VIC: Police swoop in counter-terrorism raids across Melbourne

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2009
VIC: Police swoop in counter-terrorism raids across Melbourne

Police have conducted mass counter terrorism raids across Melbourne.

It's been a joint operation involving hundreds of Australian Federal Police agents
and Victorian police officers.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman says several arrests have been made .. and a crime scene
has been set up in Glenroy in Melbourne's north.

News Limited says national security agencies had uncovered a plot by Islamic extremists
to launch a suicide attack on an Australian army base .. understood to be Holsworthy Barracks
on Sydney's western outskirts.

It says the raids involved a suspected terrorist cell of Australian nationals of Somali
and Lebanese backgrounds .. inspired by a Somalia-based group with al-Qaeda links.

AAP RTV bwl/srp/jmt

KEYWORD: TERROR VIC (MELBOURNE)

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